Jorien Wuite’s departure from the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament (see Wednesday newspaper) is noteworthy. She was the first person from St. Maarten to be elected at the national level in the Netherlands.
Having formerly served as parliamentarian and minister in St. Maarten as well as the country’s plenipotentiary minister in The Hague, she ran at number 20 on the D66 list for Dutch elections in March 2021 to capture some 16,000 votes, becoming the party’s fifth-biggest vote-getter and earning a seat in the legislature.
Wuite announced four months ago that she would not be available for re-election in November. Although this early return to the polls made it difficult to say farewell as “work remains to be done,” one can safely conclude that her two-year tenure helped raise awareness of and understanding for the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, and St. Maarten in particular, not only among party and coalition colleagues, but all factions and ministers too.
She mentioned having campaigned from St. Maarten, where she got 43% of the 154 valid votes by eligible Dutch residents who had lived in the Netherlands at least 10 years.
“I hoped to encourage new generations to participate in our democracy; one that is inclusive. I also hoped to show that this is possible from the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, as well as urgently needed,” Wuite said in August on professional networking platform LinkedIn.
She has a right to be proud not only of her achievements on behalf of the islands, but the example set for others. Citizens from Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten can be successful in national Dutch politics.
Discussions on relations in the Kingdom will no doubt continue when the next cabinet takes office in the Netherlands. Based on a colonial history, they are inherently subject to change.
However, being able to influence this emancipation process from within the corridors of power in The Hague is of significant value, as Wuite has clearly demonstrated.
